


Burnished

by glitteringeva



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of past abuse, Past Abuse, Useless Lesbians, boooooooth, carshop au, just look at the character tags and you know who this is about, nothing worse than on the show i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 10:59:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringeva/pseuds/glitteringeva
Summary: Yang spends the summer working at her mother's car repair shop. Taking calls from angry customers, hanging out with her best friend Blake, enjoying the sun. She didn't even plan on adding a summer romance to the list, but she just can't get Mercury's cocky smirk out of her head. Meanwhile Blake finally dares to open up to other people again, until a dark secret from her past threatens to destroy more than just her life.





	1. Chapter 1

Saturdays were the worst days. Either five people came in at the same time, suddenly realising their car needed to be fixed right now, or no one came in all day long and Yang spent her time rearranging paperclips on her desk and checking her phone for new messages every five seconds. There was no in between. Today it was the latter.

“You’re not getting paid for texting your friends.”

Yang almost jumped out of her chair. She hadn’t seen Vernal coming into the office. Her short hair was sticking to her forehead, her skin glistening with sweat. “Tell the boss to throw me out then”, Yang said with a wink, trying not to let her see she had managed to surprise her.

“Did you manage to get someone to come around because of the air con?”

“They might be sending someone over next week.” Yang leaned back in her chair, resting her feet on the desk just to piss her off. “Pretty busy season right now.”

“We’re dying over there in the garage. Call them again.”

“I already called them three times.” Yang reached for her phone. “I could give you the number if you want to talk to them yourself.”

“Guess I have to ask Raven to call them later.” Vernal turned around again. “She would probably convince them to come over today.”

Yang glared at her for a moment before she bit her lip and sat up. Vernal smiled and opened the door. A breeze of hot air hit Yang before Vernal left and closed it behind her. For a moment Yang stared at the door, then she picked up the phone and typed in the number.

“Torchwick Air Conditioning, we will make your fridge feel like the warmest place in the house, how can I help you?”, said a bored voice at the other end of the line.

“Branwen Car Repair Shop, I am calling because of our broken air con.”

“I already told you we’re very busy right now.” The guy at the other end of the phone seemed genuinely pissed now. “It’s not gonna be any faster only because –“

“I know. I’m just calling to tell you what we will charge you per day.”

For a moment the guy didn’t say anything. “Sorry, what?”

“The amount we will charge you. The air conditioning isn’t working so we can’t work either. We bought it from you, it’s not working, so we will charge you.”

“This is not how this works. You can’t charge us anything.”

“Our lawyer is pretty confident we can.”

The guy let out a heavy sigh. “I will send someone tomorrow”, he said. “And I won’t pay a cent. Make sure someone is there to open the door.”

“Thank you.”

The guy hung up without another word. Yang wanted to smile, but it didn’t feel like a victory.

Raven didn’t show up in the office until it was almost time for Yang to leave. She walked in without saying a word, sitting down behind her desk and starting her laptop. It took her ten minutes to scroll through her mails or order new shoes online before she acknowledged Yang’s existence.

“Vernal said you didn’t manage to work out the issue with the air con.”

“I don’t know what she meant, that guy on the phone promised to send someone over tomorrow.”

“Alright then. You don’t have anything to do tomorrow, do you?”

“You want me to sit here and wait?”

“You wouldn’t have anything else to do. Bring your laptop and study a bit. I’d give you Monday off.”

“Sounds fair.”

For a moment Raven looked at her and Yang wasn’t sure if she would lecture her or smile, but then she just looked down at her laptop again. “Go home. I doubt we’ll get any other customers today. Your shift ends in half an hour anyway.”

Yang looked at her, not sure if she was supposed to say anything or not, but Raven already didn’t seem to pay attention to her anymore. Yang reached for her bag and her phone. “See you later.”

The heatwave had already taken the life of Yang’s favourite sunglasses and the air con in the garage. She still loved the sun and the heat. It was a welcome excuse to spend her afternoons at Blake’s place without moving an inch. The Belladonna home was easily the biggest house in town, but the front yard looked just as yellow and dry as everywhere else in town. Yang left her bike in the driveway. The front door already opened before she had walked up the stairs. Kali stood in the doorway, her summer dress more appropriate for a garden party than a lazy evening at home and for a moment Yang was afraid she had actually forgotten about a noble event she was about to interrupt.

“It’s so nice to see you”, Kali said as if it hadn’t been yesterday when she had last been here. “Blake is by the pool.”

“Wouldn’t expect her anywhere else.” Yang smiled at her. Inside it was almost too cold for her taste. She left her shoes by the door.

“Take some fresh towels from the pool house. I will bring you a glass of lemonade, it’s so hot today.”

“Thank you!” Yang was already on her way. She felt like she had spent more of her summer here than in Raven’s house and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Blake was sitting outside, hiding from the sun under a large umbrella and reading a book. “Hey, Yang”, she said without looking up. “You’re early.”

“Not what I’d call a busy day.” She dropped her bag on the floor. “You didn’t look at your phone all day long, did you?”

“Forgot it upstairs.” Blake closed her book and stretched. “I’ve been reading all day. Do you want to swim?”

“Later maybe.” She pulled one of the chairs into the sun and sat down. “I think Vernal is this close to lock me into a car and drown me in a river.”

“Is your mum still pampering you?”

“She gives me Monday off if I spend tomorrow just sitting there, doing university work and waiting for the guy who wants to repair the air con.”

“You are her daughter after all.”

“Anyway.” Yang leaned back. “It means we can go out tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

“Move, asshole.” Emerald dropped on the sofa next to Mercury, leaning her head back and letting out a groan. “This job is killing me. One more day and I’ll throw coffee at the next entitled hipster who asks me where the beans come from. Do I look like I get paid enough to know that?”

“Just make something up. It’s not like they’ll ever know.”

Neo threw a peanut at him and he looked at her, shrugged. Neo rolled her eyes and leaned back in her armchair, ignoring him because for some reason she thought that would annoy him. It never worked. Ten minutes and she’d love him again.

“Why do you kids always hang out in my living room like you have no life and there’s nothing else to do?” Roman tried to make Neo get up from his armchair, but she didn’t even acknowledge his existence, so he sat down on the floor. He was merely three years older than Mercury and Emerald, but in his head the age gap still felt as big as when they had first met so many years ago.

“Because there is nothing else to do in this town”, Mercury said. “Also I’ve worked all day.”

“It’s not like you’re leaving the apartment on weekends either.”

“Merc and I are going to a party tomorrow”, Emerald said.

“We’re doing what?”

“A co-worker invited me. You’re driving so I can drink.”

“Which car is he going to drive exactly?”, Roman asked. “Are you going to steal one?”

“Yours. You know he’s not going to drink.”

“That’s never been the issue I had with his driving skills.”

“You told us go to out more.”

Neo hit Roman with another peanut and Mercury was sure it was just to get on his nerves for earlier, to actually make him go out on a Saturday night. There weren’t many things that were less tempting than that.

“If there’s one scratch in it you’ll pay that off.”

“Don’t act like anyone would even pay you money for that old thing”, Mercury said. “Just pray it doesn’t kill us.” He got up. “I’m in my room.”

Neo gave him five minutes of piece before she opened his door and padded into the room he shared with Emerald. She pulled the headphones from his head when he didn’t take them off himself and he rolled his eyes, but stopped the music. She sat down on his bed, pulling her knees to her chest. “Em is worried”, she said. Her voice was almost a whisper, fragile.

“She has no reason to.”

She tilted her head.

“I’m fine. Shut up and read one of Em’s books or something. Try to photograph your elves.”

She pouted.

“Pixies, right.”

She leaned back against the wall, relaxing. Her feet almost didn’t even dangle over the edge. She pointed at the stack of comic books on his bedside table and he gave her all of them because he could never remember which one she was reading at the moment. Neo was as easy as that. It was something Roman and Emerald didn’t understand, but sometimes he felt like they were sharing the same awkwardness, that some things better stayed unspoken.

 

* * *

 

Raven lived so far at the end of the town the little house almost looked lonely. Yang tried to open the door and only when the key didn’t fit noticed she had used the one for the house she had shared with her father and Ruby for years. Still did. She sighed, found the right key and opened the door. She heard the TV from the living room and left her shoes and bag by the door before she went to the kitchen. It was less messy than usual, they both didn’t care much about keeping the house cleaner than absolutely necessary. She found a plate with chicken and vegetables in the fridge and put it into the microwave before she searched for something cool to drink. The only thing she found was wine so she went with water.

She wasn’t sure whether to eat in her room or join Raven by the TV. For a moment she felt as if she would just get on her mother’s nerves, but she had already left her alone during dinner. She took her plate out of the microwave and went to the living room. Raven sat on the couch, looking at something on her tablet, some reality TV show running in the background. She looked up when Yang entered the room.

“Your hair is still wet”, Raven said. She laid the tablet on the coffee table next to a full glass of wine. “How is Blake?”

“Bored.” Yang sat down on the couch, not quite next to her, not quite as far away as she could, balancing her plate on her knees. “Reading all day long when I don’t bother her.”

“She should find something to do.”

Yang shoved food into her mouth so she didn’t have to answer. There were a thousand things that came to her mind she could do instead of sitting in an office and talking to middle aged men who thought she couldn’t pick a car apart from an airplane about their broken headlights as if she wasn’t a major in mechanical engineering. But her ideas were more out of fun, Raven probably had something more ambitious in mind. “Did you use coconut oil for those vegetables?”

“Yes. Why, are you allergic?”

“No, no. It’s… good.”

For a while they both didn’t say anything. Yang finished her dinner and pulled her knees to her chest before she could think about Raven complaining about her feet on the couch like Weiss always did. But she didn’t say anything.

“I’ll go to bed”, Yang said eventually. “I have to be in the shop at ten.”

“Don’t forget your textbooks. It can take time, you might as well use it.”

“Sure.” Yang got up, taking her plate with her. “Good night.”

“Good night, Yang.”

She looked back, but Raven had already grabbed her tablet again.


	2. Chapter 2

Yang wasn’t even sure how it was possible, but Sunday was even hotter than Saturday. To be fair she had tried to study, but she couldn’t concentrate all alone in the office. So here she was, sitting on the floor of the garage next to her bike, wearing the shortest shorts she had, her top rolled up so she could have just went with only wearing her bra instead. She had opened all the gates, but it still felt like she was sitting in a sauna. It was weird to be here all on her own, without busy workers running through the hall and shoving everyone else out of the way. Now only cars and tools kept her company. Not the worst thing if she thought of Vernal.

“Wasn’t someone supposed to fix the air con today?”

Yang turned around and almost dropped her screwdriver. The good thing was that she knew that guy. Mercury was one of the college students Raven had hired over the summer, officially because it gave them the chance to earn money they desperately needed, inofficially because of tax benefits. The bad thing was that he wasn’t the air con man, and he was definitely staring at her. “What are you doing here?”, she asked. “It’s Sunday.”

“Your mum doesn’t pay me if I don’t get this Mercedes fixed by tomorrow.” He shrugged, walking into the garage as if he was just strolling around. “Are you trying to seduce the mechanic like in some porn or is that what kids wear these days?”

She glared at him. For a moment she wanted to roll her top back down, but that would only make it seem as if it would bother her that he was seeing her like that. In fact it didn’t, her outfit covered more than a bikini would and that was the amount of exposed skin she was comfortable with in pretty much any situation, also it was a really hot day after all, but for that comment she felt like throwing something at him. “I could get you fired for that, you know that, right?”

“Go ahead. But that definitely won’t make Vernal shut up about you.” He walked over to the Mercedes he had been talking about.

The comment took her off guard. Vernal was talking about her? Well, why did it even surprise her? “Let her”, Yang mumbled. She turned back to her motorbike. “As soon as the air con guy was here I will be gone so I hope you have a key.”

“Don’t worry, Blondie, I have one.”

She rolled her eyes. She definitely didn’t regret not talking to him earlier.

For a while she kept working, trying not to pay attention to him, struggling not to think about everything Vernal probably said about her behind her back. When she briefly turned around he was wearing headphones and worked on the Mercedes without looking at her. She wished she had brought headphones, but she couldn’t risk not hearing the mechanic.

The garage felt like an oven now. Sweat was running down her back and she had already put her hair in a messy bun, but right now she felt like shaving it all off. For a moment she almost understood Vernal’s bad mood, but she was always like that, even when the air con had still been working. Oh yeah, Vernal again.

She almost jumped when someone suddenly hammered against the door. She looked up. A man with red hair stood in the open door, a toolbox in one hand, with the other he kept knocking against the door until she got up and walked towards him.

“Where’s the air con?”, he asked. He already sounded annoyed.

“Are you –“

“Roman Torchwick, yes, here to fix it, not steal it. We talked on the phone.” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for small talk.”

She took a deep breath and pointed to the other end of the room. “There. Say if you need anything.”

“Sure.” He walked inside. “You know, it doesn’t work when you leave all the doors open.”

“They’re open because it doesn’t work. We’re not stupid.”

“Sure, sure.” He disappeared behind a car and Yang shook her head.

“I definitely could fix it faster than him”, Mercury said. She only now noticed he had taken his headphones off.

“If we try it to fix it ourselves they won’t replace it if it’s really broken.”

“As if he’s that serious about this.” Mercury turned back to the car.

“What do you mean?” She lowered her voice and stepped closer. She didn’t want Torchwick to hear them.

“He has no idea what he’s doing, he couldn’t even repair a toaster if his life depended on it”, he whispered. “Don’t tell him I told you.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “That’s why he was so cheap.”

“How do you know? Does Raven know?”

“I don’t know if she knows. I know because I know him.” He looked up and smirked at her. Some strands of grey hair were falling into his face and she had to admit that it looked good at him. He looked good. “Are you into bad boys?”

And with that the small hint of attraction she had felt was gone. “Don’t worry, if I ever was that is cured now”, she said dryly.

“Ouch, right in the heart.”

She rolled her eyes and turned around to go back to her motorbike. He laughed behind her. What a douchebag. Handsome, but still a douchebag.

It took Torchwick half an hour to come back. He looked even more annoyed than before. Yang was surprised that was even possible. “It’s not working”, he said.

“Yeah.” Yang looked at him. “That’s why you’re here.”

“I can’t fix it right now. I have to order some replacement parts first.”

“Are you serious?” Yan got up. “How long will that take?”

“Not sure. A week? I’ll call you as soon as it’s there.” He shrugged and was already on his way out.

“Do you at least know what the problem is?”

Torchwick waved his hand in a gesture that could mean anything, then he disappeared. Mercury laughed behind her. “Told you.”

“Told me what?” She turned around.

“He has no idea what he is doing.”

“So it’s a scam?”

“Nah, he’s not stealing these or anything. Raven wouldn’t fall for a scam.” He shrugged. His arms were smeared with motor oil and she caught herself staring too long at a scar across his right elbow. “Shouldn’t you be the one to know that?”

She quickly looked away. “That is absolutely none of your business.” She sat down next to her bike, now hurrying to get it done as quickly as possible so she could leave.

“Ouch, sensitive topic?”

“Shut up or I will make her throw you out.” She took a deep breath. “No, it’s not. You know, did you tell Raven that he’s not actually planning to repair it?”

“Everyone who lives here knows that every business Roman Torchwick is involved in is somewhat shady.”

So everyone here except her. Exactly what she needed to hear right now, _thank you very little_. She adjusted the last screw and threw everything back into her toolbox. “Just… make sure all doors are locked when you leave”, she said harshly.

“It’s not the first time I’m –“

“Goodbye.” She rolled her top down and reached for her bag. She hoped she would never have to talk to him again.

 

* * *

 

It was one of those parties she wasn’t even invited to and if she had been invited she definitely wouldn’t be here. The son of a colleague of Blake’s father had invited her and now she was dragging Yang along because she barely knew him. Turned out Cardin was the greatest douchebag Yang had ever seen, especially drunk. Yang was almost ready to break his nose at some point tonight, especially if he stared at her cleavage while talking to her one more time.  

“We can still go home and watch a movie”, Yang said. “Or go to a real club where people actually dance and have fun.”

“We only just arrived. Maybe we should… give it a chance.” Blake clung to the cup in her hand. She was so obviously uncomfortable Yang just wanted to drag her out of here. The living room was big and full of people who just wanted to get wasted as fast as possible. Yang had no idea how Cardin’s parents were not scared for their expensive furniture. Some guy in college sweatpants had his shoes on the white leather couch. “My father asked me to go.”

“Did he meet Cardin before? Because if he did I would ask him some serious questions.”

“He just thinks I should go out more often. He’s just… worried all the time.” She took another sip form her cup. “I guess I’m just not drunk enough for this.”

Yang raised her own cup to take a sip, but then put it down again. She already felt the effect of her rum coke, but someone should probably stay sober for this. Kind of sober. She gave her cup to some random dude who didn’t complain. “I think someone ordered pizza, let’s fight for it.”

“Not everything has to end in a drunk bar fight, Yang.” Blake laughed. She was definitely on her way to be drunk. “But pizza sounds nice.”

“Then come on.” Yang turned around to leave the kitchen. “I’m sure we’ll –“

She ran into something soft and would have stumbled if someone hadn’t caught her. “Careful, Blondie.”

She knew that voice. She looked up, just to stare right into Mercury’s eyes. Another idiot she didn’t want to deal with tonight. She wanted to rip that horrible smirk from his face. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Robbing the house.”

He was still holding her even though it was totally unnecessary and she shoved his hands away, then poked his chest with a finger to force him to step back because she had no idea why she should be the one who did. “Anyway, we’re busy.”

“Oh, are you?” He raised his eyebrows.

“That look doesn’t suit you.”

“Do you know him?”, Blake asked, sipping on her cup.

“He works for my mum.”

“We spent a pretty romantic afternoon alone at the shop today”, Mercury said. “Already forgot about that?”

“He’s an idiot”, someone said next to them. Yang couldn’t remember ever having seen that girl. “I’m Emerald. Excuse him, he never learned to shut his mouth.”

“She might seem a bit mean, but she loves me.” Mercury smirked, but Emerald just grabbed him by his arm and pulled him with her. “Oh, come on. That hot blonde definitely wants me.”

“I hate him”, Yang mumbled. Blake silently gave her her cup and Yang took a sip. “He thinks he owns the world. I know guys like him. He doesn’t see a person, he sees a girl with boobs and thinks I’m a machine you put shitty jokes in and sex falls out.”

“You’re not a machine.”

Well, at least Blake believed that, as drunk as she already was.

Somehow they managed to get their hands on three thirds of a pizza Hawaii and Blake on a full bottle of rum. They sat on the kitchen counter while Blake peeled the pineapple from her last slice and gave it to Yang.

“Sure you don’t want to mix that with something?”, Yang said when Blake took another sip from the bottle and coughed.

“No, I’ll only get sick from the sugar.”

Probably not the sugar. “I can get you a glass of water.”

“Water is boring.”

“You will hate yourself for that tomorrow.” Yang got up to get her a glass of water anyway.

Blake coughed behind her. “Yang, I think I don’t feel that well.”

“What a surprise.” She turned around to see Blake trying to get up, only to end up on her knees. Yang sighed and helped her to get on her feet again, Blake wrapping her arms around her neck to support herself. “Let’s get you to the bathroom.”

The house seemed even more crowded than before. Yang made sure Blake wasn’t falling while trying to make it through drunk idiots and couples making out. Some big guy blocked her way and after trying to make him move politely and he ignored her she just roughly shoved him aside.

“Hey, bitch, who do you think you are?”

She turned around. Cardin was staring at her like an angry bull. “Do you want her to throw up on this fancy carpet? Leave us alone.”

Suddenly he roughly shoved her against the wall. Blake gasped and tried to push him away from Yang, but she just shoved Blake aside. She was way too drunk for this. “What, you need to hit women now because hitting on them doesn’t work anymore?”

He smirked and took a strand of her hair into her hand. “Bitches love –“

She roughly slapped his hand away. “No one loves anything about you Cardin.”

Anger flickered in his eyes and she refused to look away, stared him down until he slapped her. She gasped. Her cheek burned, the taste of blood and dull pain slowly spreading. She looked back up and for a moment he looked just as shocked he had done this as she was. Then her first crushed right into the middle of his face. She heard something break and then Cardin let out a high pitched scream. He raised his fist to fight back, but before he could two of his friends pulled him away and arms wrapped around Yang’s waist, pulling her into the opposite direction.

“He started it”, she yelled and tried to fight against the person who was relentlessly pulling her away.

“I know. Everyone saw it, Blondie, but it’s not worth having him beat your pretty face any more than he already did.”  

“Mercury!?” She tried to fight him off and then gave up. “Leave me alone.” She touched her lip as he kept pulling her with him, when she looked down there was blood on her fingertips. Then he pulled her outside. “Hey, I can’t leave now, what about Blake?”

“Em takes care of her.”

“I don’t know Em.”

“I do.” The front porch almost seemed peaceful compared to the chaos inside. “Sit down and let me look at that.”

“It’s nothing.” She sat down on the stairs, mostly because that way he couldn’t drag her any further away. Her cheek felt numb. He kneeled down next to her and she clenched her hand to a fist when he pushed some strands of hair out of her face.

“Are your teeth okay?”, he asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s not that bad.” He got up again. “I’ll see where your friend is, wait here and try not to get into another fist fight.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She rolled her eyes. Her lip really started to hurt now.

He laughed and she rolled her eyes when he went back inside. She didn’t even have anything to wipe away the blood on her face, only wearing shorts and a yellow top that she really hoped didn’t have any blood on it yet. She felt like either punching Cardin again or starting to cry. The thought of Blake being completely drunk and inside there, of having to trust Mercury’s friend to look after her, made her sick.

It took him way too long to come back. Alone. He sat down next to her, giving her something cold and it took her a moment to realise it was a wet washcloth. “For the blood”, he said. She only now noticed her hands were shaking. She took a deep breath. She just wanted him to leave.

“What about Blake?”, she asked.

“She threw up on the white carpet and now she’s in the bathroom. Em is taking care of her. They’ll come outside once she’s ready.” He took the washcloth out of her hand when she didn’t do anything with it and started to softly wipe the blood from her face. She tried to look anywhere but at him. He pulled his hands away suddenly something way colder pressed on her lip. “Frozen peas. Hold that.”

“Stolen?” She took the bag of peas and for a moment her hands touched his before he pulled them away.

“Cardin was too busy to bleed all over the kitchen to ask him. I think you broke his nose.”

“He deserved it.”

“I never doubted that. Probably no one really does. Is your hand okay?”

“Yes.” Right now she just felt tired and on edge at the same time. Everything she wanted was to know Blake was safe and go home. “You know, it really wouldn’t hurt you to be less of a jerk from time to time.”

“What are you complaining about now? Are the peas too cold?”

“I didn’t mean right now, but… earlier. Today at the shop.”

“Oh, come on.”

“You can be a real pain in the ass.”

“You love it.” He smirked and she rolled her eyes.

“You have no idea how much I don’t love it.”

The door opened behind her. Emerald had wrapped her arm around Blake’s waist to support her. Blake looked horrible and for a moment she just stared at Yang. “Oh my god, what happened?”

“Nothing.” Yang got up and wasn’t sure if the frozen peas made it look better or worse. “Are you okay?”

“Are _you_?” Blake wrapped her arms around Yang’s neck and pulled her close. “What happened?”

“Cardin happened. He slapped me, I punched him, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” Blake sighed heavily and Yang struggled to keep her upright. “I remember.”

“We should definitely call a cab.”

“He can drive you”, Emerald said. “Don’t worry, he didn’t drink.”

Yang wanted to say no, but she also really didn’t want to risk staying here any longer. “Alright. But you know my mum will kill you if anything happens.” She looked at Mercury.

“It’s my second summer working for her, don’t think I would ever risk the fury of Raven Branwen.” He got up. “Just tell me when she’s about to throw up, okay?”

Mercury’s car was a silver Volvo that had seen better days. Probably before she had been born. Yang typed Blake’s address into Emerald’s phone so she could navigate while Blake’s head was already resting on her shoulder. She would probably be asleep by the time they made it there, but that was better than throwing up.

“Is she alright?”, Emerald asked eventually.  

“I think she’s just asleep. She’ll feel worse tomorrow.”

“We’re almost there. Do you want us to wait while we take her inside and then drive you home?”

“No, I can just sleep at her place. It’s the house right there. The one with the… the big one.”

“Not bad”, Mercury said.

“It’s just a house.” Emerald rolled her eyes.

“Anyway.” Yang softly shook Blake to wake her up. Mercury stopped the car in front of the house. “Thank you for giving us a ride.” She said it so fast she hoped he wouldn’t hear it. He looked at her and smirked. He had totally heard it.

Getting Blake out of the car was less of an effort than she had expected. “Don’t let my parents know, make sure my parents don’t know”, she mumbled when they walked up the driveway. Yang heard the car drive away behind her. She wanted to turn around and didn’t even really know why, but with Blake clinging to her she couldn’t.

“Don’t worry. We’ll sneak inside. Where do you have your keys?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who has left comments so far! And if you haven't yet, all the comments always make my day, so maybe consider it!

Blake woke up feeling like someone was banging her head against a wall. She didn’t know where she was until she opened her eyes and stared right into Yang’s lilac eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

She couldn’t help but to stare at the bruise on Yang’s face, the crusted blood on her lip. “Oh my god, what happened to your face?”

“It’s not that bad. Your mum already gave me ice and your dad actually laughed when I told him the story.” Yang got up and took a bottle of water from the bedside table. “Drink that.”

Blake sat up and took the water bottle. Her head felt like it was going to explode. “When did we get home?”

“Around midnight, but you were already totally wasted by then. Do you remember anything?”

“Kinda.” Blurred images of Yang bleeding and another girl holding her hair back while she threw up came to her mind. The thought made her blush. “Maybe… tell me what happened in case I have missed anything.”

“Drink the water.” Yang sat down on the bed and Blake opened the bottle, taking small sips. “You got really drunk at that party. Cardin was a dick and then slapped me so I punched back. I broke his nose, so I clearly won. Then that guy I work with pulled me out of his house while his friend took care of you. They gave us a ride home.”

“His friend, right.”

“Emerald.”

Blake took a big sip from the water bottle so she could figure out what to say. She felt awful, not just physically. “I’m sorry”, she said eventually. “I shouldn’t have –“

“No, Blake. It wasn’t your fault. You were just drunk.”

“I shouldn’t have made you go to that party with me.”

“That could have happened anywhere. Don’t worry.” She smiled at her as if it wasn’t Blake’s fault that Cardin had hit her. “Your mum gave me painkillers for you. Do you want to take them?”

For a moment she felt like she deserved the pain. “Yes, sure. Thank you.”

“No problem.” Yang got up and Blake sipped on her water. She didn’t deserve her.

“Did mum and dad catch us sneaking inside?”

“No, we were quiet. But your mum guessed that you’re probably having a hangover when I was the only one showing up for breakfast.” Yang came back with two pills and Blake swallowed them. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“I hope you are because I need to go. I promised Ruby to videochat.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Thanks for getting me home last night.”

“Of course I did.” Yang hugged her before she got up. “Make sure to drink water and try to eat something for breakfast. It will make you feel better, I promise.”

A shower made her feel better already, at least physically. She put on a black dress in the hope that it would make her parents think everything was perfectly alright before she went downstairs.

“Oh, dear. You look like you haven’t slept at all.” Kali got up from the sofa when she saw her. “Yang told us all about last night, I can’t believe that boy behaved like that. Do you want me to make you breakfast and tea?”

“Actually I thought I’d go out for breakfast.” Anything to avoid talking about last night with her parents.

“Sounds like a lovely idea. I’m glad you’re feeling better already.”

“I’ll just got and get my bag.” She tried not to look at her.

Blake’s favourite café was right around the corner. Her favourite place was upstairs, a big armchair in a corner right by the window. From here she could watch people passing by outside and read all day long, the waiters never bothering to disturb her for anything but a new cup of tea. It was almost like reading at home, only with the advantage of her parents thinking she had actually done anything else that day.

Right now she didn’t even want to read. The café was full of people having a late Sunday breakfast and her head was still hurting. She leaned back in her armchair, stared out of the window and tried not to think about Cardin.

“Good morning, can I – oh.”

Blake looked up and almost dropped her book. Emerald was standing in front of her, wearing a white blouse and black pants like all the waiters here. _Knew she looked familiar_. “Oh, hey.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes. A bit.” It probably didn’t make any sense to hide her hangover. “Thanks for giving us a ride home last night.”

“Oh it was on the way, don’t worry. What can I bring you?”

“Earl Grey tea and a big bottle of water. Probably something to eat, do you have any hangover approved sandwiches?”

“Don’t worry, I know what to get you.” She smiled at her, quickly looking down at her notepad. “I’ll be right back.” 

Blake buried her face in her hands and let out a groan. Emerald of all people. The first time she met her she had been holding her hair back while Blake had thrown up. How was she supposed to act normal around her?

When Emerald came back her tray was full of things Blake hadn’t ordered. A cup of tea, a large bottle of water, a glass with a green liquid that looked like the stuff Ren always had after working out, and a friendly looking bacon sandwich. “It’s a green smoothie with kiwi, apples and kale. Tastes better than it looks, but it cures all hangovers, trust me. I need to go clean up downstairs, some kids kept throwing food around.” She rolled her eyes. “Let me know if you need anything.”

The smoothie did taste better than it looked, and it did make her feel better. Blake tried to focus on her book, but she caught herself searching for Emerald in the crowd, almost disappointed when another waiter came to collect her empty plate and bring her a new cup of tea.

It was afternoon when Emerald came back. She wasn’t wearing her uniform anymore but jeans shorts and a loose grey shirt with the logo of some band Blake didn’t know. She took a free chair and sat down at Blake’s table. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, a lot.” Blake closed her book, running her fingers over the golden letters on the cover. “You look stressed.”

“Sunday mornings are awful. But my shift is over now, so I can go home and try to forget the scrambled egg massacre that happened downstairs. You go to university, right? When you’re not staying with your parents I mean.”

“Yes. Literature and political science. And you?”

“Psychology. It’s less exciting than it sounds.” She shrugged. “I don’t have that much time to work during the semester, so I’m trying to make up for that now.”

“That sounds really stressful.” Blake knew she was lucky because he parents were able to pay for her education. It seemed unfair that others had to struggle so much more. “Mercury is your friend, right?”

“Yeah, something like that. You know he really wants to bang your friend, right?”

“He wouldn’t be the first.”

“He’s an idiot. My idiot, but still an idiot. I just hope she doesn’t think he’s good relationship material because he’s not.”

“Don’t worry. If anyone can handle him it’s her. She has never fallen for douchebags and she could break his nose if she had to.”

“Yeah, we’ve all seen that yesterday. That guy deserved it.” Emerald looked down for a moment and Blake wasn’t sure if she was smiling or not. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“That would be… nice.” Blake bit her lip to keep herself from smiling.

“Yeah.” She got up and looked at her. “Goodbye. Enjoy your book.”

“Thanks.”

Emerald smiled and turned around. Only when she was already walking down the stairs Blake remembered she should have said something else, maybe _goodbye_ or _see you_ or _please go out with me_. She leaned back in her armchair and sighed, running her hands through her hair. “Damn”, she mumbled. Had she screwed it up? What did she even want from Emerald? Why did she even think about going out with her?

She took a deep breath. She had to take a few steps back. She felt like she was rushing into something very big way too fast.

 

* * *

 

Yang managed to avoid Raven until dinner. “I’ll be there in a minute”, she said when Raven knocked on her door. “Just getting dressed!”

She looked at her face in the mirror. It wasn’t that bad, definitely not as bad as a broken nose. But also definitely nothing she could cover up. Her lip was swollen and the wound had stopped bleeding, but it was still clearly visible. She could probably try to get away with telling Raven someone had just accidentally slammed a door into her face, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted that.

There was no real way to describe Raven’s house. It wasn’t very big and looked so normal from the outside, but inside it almost seemed like Raven had tried to turn it into a cave full of warm colours and bright patterns. Every inch of wall was covered with paintings, prints and landscape photographs. The guest room Yang was staying in was a compromise, something that was less of a commitment than having her own room but considering Raven probably never really had guests staying over it basically was. The walls were painted in a dark red and Yang wasn’t sure if the dragon painting on the wall above the bed was just a coincidence or had actually to do with her name. She wasn’t sure which one she would prefer.

The dining table in the living room was always covered with paperwork or books and newspapers Raven was currently reading. One of the first things she had learned was that it never had any particular order, so they just shoved it aside until they had enough space to eat. Today seemed to be a busy day because Raven hadn’t bothered to make space for anything but two plates and a bottle of wine. The casserole looked homemade and almost edible.

She sat down and avoided to look at Raven. “Looks good”, she said. “New recipe?”

“Shepherd’s Pie. What happened to your face, Yang?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. You haven’t seen the other guy.”

“I’m serious.”

“Me too.” Yang took her spoon and tried to remember what Shepherd’s Pie was made of. “Some guy at that party yesterday wasn’t as good at controlling himself as he should have been. He slapped me and I broke his nose, so I think we’re even. Not a big deal.” She stared at the plate in front of her for a couple of seconds before she looked up.

If she was completely honest with herself she had expected Raven to freak out. It was what her father probably would have done, demanding a name and an address to break a few more bones. That was definitely what her dad would have done. But Raven just smirked. “So the party wasn’t very good?”

“No.” Yang picked her casserole apart with her spoon before she finally took the first bite. She had told Raven not to make a big deal out of it, but all of a sudden she wasn’t sure if she had actually wanted her to listen to her. If she hadn’t wanted her to show she _cared_.

“Did you sleep at Blake’s place?”

“Yes. She was really drunk and I didn’t want to wake her parents.”

“Those college parties never end well. Wasn’t any different during my wild days.”

Yang looked up and raised her eyebrows. “Qrow mentions that a lot, but he never goes into details.

“Because not all of those stories are child appropriate.” Raven rolled her eyes and smirked. “Also Tai would probably kill him if I told you some of the things he has done while he was drunk.”

“Dad got drunk?”

“He got completely wasted every other weekend. Some nights I was just running after him and Qrow, trying to stop them from jumping out of a window or something.” She pointed at Yang with her fork. “Looking at your lip you come right after him.”

“I was barely tipsy.”

“That’s what Tai always said, too.”

“Did he?” She laughed. “Before I went to university he told me all these things about being responsible, taking things seriously not allowing anything to distract me from my academic ambitions.”

“He only got through the first year because Summer kicked his butt all through exam period.”

“That is definitely not the story he told us.”


	4. Chapter 4

“You know I have my own room at home”, Jaune said. “I don’t have to share it with anyone else. But right now I just wish I could be back in college to have some privacy and peace for once.”

“Do you have a door?” Yang didn’t look up from her computer.

“Yes, but they knock. I can’t say no when Fleur asks me to try the cake she just made and then I open the door and all of a sudden Aurelie throws me out of my own room because she says it’s the only place in the house where she can concentrate on her college essay.”

She turned around and stretched. Jaune was standing on the window shelf, aggressively wiping the glass clean. “Try not to die, okay?”

“It’s not my first time doing this.”

“Yeah, just… try not to fall out of the window.” She took a look at her phone. “It’s almost time for lunch, do you have to be anywhere?”

“Yeah, dentist appointment. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry. We don’t want your teeth to fall out, do we?”

“At least I don’t get them knocked out in fist fights.”

“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “But seriously, who told you?”

“According to my sister everyone talks about a hot blonde breaking Cardin Winchester’s nose. You’re kind of a legend now.”

“Being a legend almost makes it worth it.” She looked at her hands, trying to peel off the last remaining bits of golden nail polish. “You know, I told my mum yesterday.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t know if she just didn’t care or if… I mean she’s not the type to be overprotective, but she seemed rather proud than angry or… worried.”

“But if you told her in person she saw that you’re okay. I’m sure she would be worried if it was necessary.”

“Dad would freak out.”

“People are different.” Jaune climbed down and closed the window. “I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Are you?”

“Yes. My dad is always worried about our grades and my mum acts like it’s no big deal. It’s not that she doesn’t care, but even if she’s worried she’s not the type to let you know.”

She sighed. “Thank you. You know, I think I’ll go and get myself some lunch. I’m starving.”

“I’ll probably be done by the time you’re back, so see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t fall out of the window.” She got up and grabbed her phone and her bag. “See you tomorrow.”

The sun was ruthless today. Yang put on her second favourite pair of sunglasses as she walked outside. The car repair shop was not in the middle of the town, but the town wasn’t very big and it was just a ten minute walk to the one decent place to get Mexican food around here.

“Hey, Blondie.”

She turned around. Mercury was just a few steps behind her, stopping when she did. “Did you wait for me to leave so you could talk to me?”

“Do you think anyone but Vernal tells me when I can leave for lunch and when not?” He smirked. “Where are you heading?”

“Just downtown. Getting something to eat. You?”

“I forgot to go grocery shopping yesterday and Em will kill me if I get home without food. Guess we’re heading in the same direction for a bit.”

“You two live together?” Something about that stung more than it should. She waited for him to catch up with her before they walked down the street.

“We both live with an old friend right now. He got me this job. How is your emo friend doing?”

“Blake is alright.”

“And your lip?”

“Come on, it doesn’t look that bad.”

“Gives you a dangerous flair. I like it.”

“Actually, being at that party and having to endure all those idiots was worse. What did you do there anyway? Are they friends of yours?”

“Do you really think I’m friends with those people?”

“The popular kids are always the biggest jerks. I know that, I hung out with them often enough. And you are kind of a jerk."

“Do you really think I was ever one of the popular kids?”

“You have the confidence.”

“Believe it or not, I was the shy nerd reading comics in a corner.”

She chuckled. “Nerd? Really?”

“Nerds are sexy now. Look at me.”

“You’re such an idiot.” She still smiled while she said it. “I have to go that way.”

They both stopped for a moment and he nodded, smirk still on his lips. It looked better on him than he deserved. “See you at the office”, he said. “Don’t get on Vernal’s nerves too much.”

“I can’t promise anything.”

She was still smiling when she had already reached the takeaway. Maybe it should have warned her, but this was probably a risk worth taking.

 

* * *

 

“Yes, of course you can still drive your car without us repairing it.” Yang was holding the phone with her left hand, shredding a sheet of the notebook in front of her with her right. “Just don’t complain when the breaks suddenly stop working.”

“They were working fine before”, the man at the other end of the phone said. Hazel Rainart, someone who had asked them to check his car and wasn’t happy about the result.

“Well, as we told you about the issue now you can be held accountable for any future damage the breaks might cause. Just thought I’d let you know.” She wasn’t even sure if this was true, but Vernal had threatened to rather smash the car to piece with her bare hands than letting that car hit the road without the breaks being repaired.

“How much will it cost again?”

Yang searched for the calculation Vernal had given her on her desk when the door opened. She looked up and froze. Mercury was standing in front of her, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Sweat was glistening on his torso, abs more defined than she had expected. He smirked and made a gesture that could have meant anything, right now she had a hard time concentrating on his face.

“Are you still there?”

Yang snapped out of her admiration of his upper body and quickly searched for the calculation again. “Yes, sorry. I was searching for the… you know, I will just send you the letter again. Then you can think about it or get a second offer if you want.”

“Better hurry. I’ve been borrowing my sister’s car for days already.”

“I’ll send it out immediately. Have a nice day!” She hung up, leaning back in her chair. “What’s up?”

He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms in front of his chest which did pleasant things to his muscles. “I need to show you something.”

“Your dick? You realise Raven will kill you if it’s your dick.”

“No one talked about dicks. Come on before they call the police.”

Well, this definitely sounded interesting. She got up. “Now I’m curious.”

The air con still hadn’t been repaired. All the mechanics were standing around one of the cars, with Vernal looking more pissed than usual. She was only wearing her blue overall and a bra underneath, motor oil smeared across her face. It wasn’t until Yang stepped closer to the black van when she saw what Mercury had meant.

“Don’t touch it”, Vernal said in a tone that indicated she didn’t say it for the first time today. Someone had removed the floor of the trunk and underneath there were several packages with a suspicious white powder. “I already called the police.”

“Drugs?”, Yang asked.

“Probably. As if we didn’t need them turning this place upside down and stopping us from doing our work today.” Vernal groaned. “Stop looking, everyone. This isn’t as funny as you think it is.”

“Who’s car is that?”, Yang asked.

“Some poor guy who bought it suspiciously cheap”, Mercury said. “He thought maybe it’s broken, so he asked us to have a look at it.”

“Just wait somewhere that’s not here in case the police has questions.” Vernal massaged her temples. “I’m already getting a headache, why isn’t the air con fixed already?”

“Because Roman’s an idiot”, Mercury whispered, all of a sudden so close to Yang’s ear a shiver ran down her spine.

“I need coffee.” She turned around and walked back to her office. He followed her and wasn’t sure if she had wanted him to or not. He grabbed his shirt from a work bench and put it back on, much to her dismiss, before he followed her into the office.

“Doesn’t Vernal have anything for you to do?”, she asked.

“I was working on the van.” He sat down in her chair while she turned the coffee machine on. “That stuff is probably worth millions.”

“Wanna sell it?”

“Nah, not worth it. Prison is not my thing. But Raven will be furious.”

“I guess.” She had no idea how Raven would react. She watched the last drops of coffee falling into the cup without turning around. Sometimes it felt like everything people did here was rubbing in how little she knew her own mother.

“Is the coffee machine really that interesting?”, Mercury asked, and Yang didn’t have to turn around to see his cocky smirk.

“What are you even doing here? Just leave me alone.”

“Ouch, what crawled up your ass?”

“I have work to do. Nothing that you’re familiar with, you’re only doing this job for fun, aren’t you? You’re not taking it seriously enough to really need it. You never had it hard in your entire life. But I do, so leave me alone.”

She didn’t turn around until she heard the door close behind her. She took a deep breath and groaned. “Fuck”, she mumbled. She hadn’t meant to snap at him, but maybe this whole happy summer bonding experience was a mistake.

 

* * *

 

Something about Blake always calmed Yang down. She didn’t make her problems go away, she didn’t have answers for the many questions she had, but whatever it was, she wasn’t alone with it, and that always made her feel better.

“I just don’t know where this is supposed to go.” Yang played with her straw and watched the ice cubes swirl around in the dark liquid. Coke, because she never felt like drinking when she was having a bad day. “It’s not like we don’t get along, but I just always thought we would… bond? Have more than nice conversations at the dinner table? But I don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like.”

Blake sipped on her wine. “It’s hard to rebuild something that just hasn’t been there for twenty years. It’s not just going to be like any mother daughter relationship.”

“I knew it would be hard, but right now it feels impossible.”

“You’re just frustrated. I know you, tomorrow you’ll feel better already. And then we’ll figure something out.”

“Everything alright here? Can I bring you anything?”

Yang looked up. “Oh, hey.” She hadn’t seen Emerald in this café before, but she had only been here once or twice with Blake. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Can you maybe bring us some more peanuts?” Blake blushed a bit, looking back down at the menu. “Or nachos? The nachos sound good.”

“The cheese dip is amazing.” Emerald leaned down to point on something on the menu, brushing her hair out of her face. “But I can also recommend the guacamole.”

“Yeah, we’ll take that.”

“Wonderful.” Emerald wrote something down on her notepad. “I’m glad I can go home in an hour, evening shifts are the worst.”

“I’m so sorry. I hope we’re not too much of a hassle.”

“Oh no, don’t worry. At least I can chat with you, other guests look at me like I’m an intruder when I bring their food. Anyway, I’ll go get your nachos.” She turned around to leave and Blake followed her with her gaze.

“Oh my god, are you serious?”

Blake looked at Yang again and blushed. “What do you mean?”

“You’re totally into her.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You should ask her out.”

“No!” Blake awkwardly closed the menu, looking away. “She’d say no anyway.”

“Why do you think did she mention that her shift ends in an hour?”

“No, I… I don’t even want to date anyone right now.”

“But she’s hot, right?”

“Can we talk about your mummy issues again?”

“Only if you call her daddy tonight.”

“You are horrible.” Blake groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Okay, I probably deserved that one. But no, I… I don’t know.”

Emerald came back with the nachos. She smiled, but she only looked at Blake. “I made the cook give you extra guacamole, usually the portions are way too small.”

“Thank you.” Blake smiled back and almost didn’t dare to look at her. Yang felt like taking pictures for their wedding.

“Let me know if you need anything.” Emerald’s gaze lingered on Blake for a moment longer before she left.

“She’s into you”, Yang said. “She’s so into you and if you don’t ask her out on a date I will be seriously disappointed.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I am not involved in anything criminal. Come on, don’t treat me like I’m Roman or something.”

“Drugs aren’t anything criminal?” Emerald stood in front of him, arms crossed in front of her chest. “You can’t just get involved in something like that.”

“It’s not like he is in any real trouble.” Roman leaned back in his armchair. “Come on, for once he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Neo threw a pillow at Roman.

“Neo, stop it. I know she’s just worried, but she could still calm down a little.”

“We have cameras in the garage. Everyone saw what’s happened. Vernal told them I only did what I was told. You don’t have to worry, Em.”

“Don’t Em me, Mercury!” She looked at him, her lip trembling and starting to say another word, but then she turned around and left the room.

“Why is she always so worried?”, Roman asked which earned him another pillow from Neo.

Mercury shrugged. “I’ll go tell her to stop getting on my nerves.”

She was sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard and arms wrapped around her knees. She didn’t look up when he sat down next to her, shoulders touching. She took a deep breath before she rested her head against his shoulder.

“I still freak out every time I see a police car”, she said. “You’re too old for Salem to come and get you out of prison, they don’t give out third chances for people like us.”

“Emmy, it’s okay. I did nothing illegal, no one is going to lock me away.”

“You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Hey, don’t cry.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Everything is alright.”

“What about Roman? He’s doing all sorts of illegal stuff, I just –“

“Nothing of it is illegal. He’s a law student, he knows it better than any of us. He will probably just lose a lot of customers.”

She took a deep breath. “Promised?”

“Promised.”

 

* * *

 

“With… Mercury?” Yang tried not to let her mother see how much this part actually bothered her.

“He’s the only one I can spare for a day right now.” Raven leaned back in her chair. “And you if I ask Jaune to watch the phone for a day. But I don’t want you to drive there all day long, do the heavy lifting on your own, and then drive back.”

Yang understood why this was important. Another car repair shop had gone bankrupt and it was their chance to get good equipment for a ridiculous price. But someone had to go there and get the things Raven had bought. And this meant she would have to spend a whole day with Mercury.

She had decided not to care about her snapping at him yesterday, but as much as she tried to hate him, she still felt like she had said the wrong thing. So what? Even if he stopped his shameless attempts at flirting with her, wasn’t that what she had wanted?

“So tomorrow.” Yang fumbled around with a sticky note with a smiley Jaune had left on her desk. “Anything I need to prepare?”

“Get yourself some snacks if you want.”

“Does Mercury know?”

“Vernal will tell him. Have you ever talked to him?”

“Not really.” Yang shrugged. “Guess that will change tomorrow then.”

“Let me know if he gets on your nerves too much, he can be a bit cocky.”

“I think I can handle him.”

 

* * *

 

There weren’t many things Mercury wouldn’t do for money.  Breaking the law? Wouldn’t be the first time, even though the first time in a while. Murderer? Maybe. Prostitution? Probably not. Sitting in a car with Yang all day just to pick up cheap junk somewhere? Well, he couldn’t say no to being paid for sitting in a car all day long.

She was already sitting in the van, her feet resting on the dashboard like only the boss’s daughter would dare while Vernal was still in sight. Her hot pants were short enough to blame her for distracting them if he ended up crashing the car against a tree. Probably not in front of Raven though.

“Morning”, he said when he opened the door and sat down on the driver’s seat. He threw his backpack on the floor in front of her seat and adjusted the mirrors.

“Can’t you put your junk somewhere else?”

“Where?” He started the car. “I can’t really put it where my feet are, can I?”

“I don’t know.”

“Your feet aren’t on the floor right now anyway.”

She rolled her eyes and typed something on her phone. What a great start. He turned the radio on to avoid talking to her. She didn’t protest. At least this air con was working. If they didn’t talk to each other this day would maybe not be too bad.

It took her an hour. An hour of peaceful driving, dry cornfields passing by and the radio playing the worst music that was currently available. “Are you just going to keep ignoring me?”, she asked after a while.

“It doesn’t count as ignoring you when you just sit there and play with your phone.”

“I snapped at you and now you’re… weird. Usually you’re much more of a pain in the ass.”

“Are you complaining about me being less annoying?”

“I’m just asking you if you’re mad at me. Are you mad at me?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

The truth was that he didn’t even know himself. He didn’t know what to make of her. He usually never had any issues talking to hot girls, and hell was she hot, and he usually didn’t give a shit about what people thought of him, but somehow she always managed to make him feel like she had caught him off guard.

“You’re wrong”, he said eventually. “About me.”

Endless cornfields kept rushing by. Mercury never had hated anything more than silence, but right now he didn’t know what to say either. He looked at her for a brief moment, but she was staring out of the window.

“Okay, but what do you mean?”, she said eventually. “What is it that I don’t get about you? I barely know you at all and suddenly you blame me for that? This is not how people work, Mercury. You can’t just expect them to read your mind.”

“Do you really want to have that discussion right now?” He clenched his hands about the driving wheel.

“Yes.”

He pulled over. The car stopped on the grass besides the road. Yang stared at him as if she was not sure whether to run away or punch him. He leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You’re judgmental”, he said. “You are talking to me about never having had it hard in life, but you have no idea what that even means, because seriously, when did you have it really hard? When your parents got divorced? You think I’m an asshole who always had it easy, but the truth is that I’m an asshole who never had it easy, but everything it does to women like you is them getting wet at the thought of another damaged guy they can fix.”

He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had slapped him, but if he was completely honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to happen. Which effects he wanted his words to have on her. Why he had said it at all. Yang opened the door and got out of the car. He stared at his hands for a moment before he followed her.

“I don’t have time for this”, he said. She had turned her back to him, her arms crossed. He wished he could see her face to at least know what he was working with. “Raven might not throw you out, but I –“

“Maybe it was wrong of me to assume you had it easy”, she said and turned around. She looked furious. He felt like bringing more distance between them, just to have a fair amount of advantage if he had to run. “But you just did the same thing. And you’re still an asshole.”

“Alright. I won’t fight you on that. Whatever issues you have, they are valid.”  

“Are you hitting on me?”

He raised his eyebrows. “What a –“

“No, I’m just… just to get it clear. I hope you’re not. That would make this whole trip much easier.”

 “No.” He wasn’t sure.

“Good.” She stared at her feet. “So if you want me to stop assuming, then stop too.”

“I assume that’s possible.”

“That was just pathetic.” She looked up. “Let’s just get back to the car. I didn’t get up this early to be late.”

He smirked. “As you wish.”

When he got back on the road the silence felt different. The awkward tension was gone. Yang turned on the radio again and when he looked at her after a while she was asleep, her feet resting on the dashboard again and her head leaned against the car window. It was hard not to stare at her.

 

* * *

 

“I hate you so much.” Yang just wanted to rest her head on the table in front of her and sleep, but she also didn’t want to lie in the sweat of ten gross truckers. “You have no idea how much I hate you right now. I’m not kidding. I really do.”

“If you can give me one good reason why I could have known the coffee machine was broken I will accept everything you throw at me. But you woke up, said you’re eating me if I don’t stop at the very next diner, and here we are.”

“This is not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair.” He shrugged and studied the menu. “So do you want something sweet or something savoury? Come on, Yang, this can’t be that hard.”

“I don’t know. Maybe… I think I want a turkey sandwich and a chocolate milkshake.”

“Are you sure?”

“I… yes, I think I am.”

“As soon as I get up you can’t change your mind anymore.”

“No tomatoes.”

He rolled his eyes and got up. The waitress hat told them to order at the counter after Yang hadn’t had any idea what she wanted the second time she came to their table. Yang had actually felt like yelling at her ever since she had told them about the coffee machine.

But this trip was actually not as bad as she had thought. At least after her outburst. At least he acted like nothing had happened and that made it easy to pretend it actually was like that. She caught herself staring at him, thinking that maybe this could work, maybe they could become something like friends. Maybe she shouldn’t get her hopes up to high. He pushed some grey strands of hair out of his face while talking to the waitress, it almost looked like they were flirting. When he turned  around she quickly stared at the menu in front of her.

“You look horrible.” Mercury sat down in front of her, smirking when she looked up. “Like… crack whore horrible. People will get the wrong impression if I buy you lunch.”

“Did you just call me a crack whore?”

“The expression on your face could –“

“You’re just making it worse.”

“A noble crack whore.”

“You’re not even paying for lunch, I do. Or technically my mum does.”

“So it’s like your mum is taking me on a date?”

“That sounds so wrong.”

“I do a lot of things for money.”

She shook her head. The waitress came with their food, giving Yang an annoyed glare. Yang took a sip from her milkshake while Mercury spread atrocious amounts of ketchup over his fries. It wasn’t as good as coffee, but it did wonders to her mood.

“By the way, I’ve met your friend in that café. Didn’t know she’s a waitress there.”

“Emerald? Yeah. I don’t know how she managed not to throw coffee in someone’s face yet.”

“Is she single?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Are you interested?”

“Asking for a friend. Literally.”

“Your black haired emo tequila queen?”

“Blake. Yeah.”

“Well she’s definitely her type.” Mercury shrugged. “But unless Blake is going to make a move she’s probably going to pine after her until the summer is over and she goes back to college.”

“We should set them up together”, Yang said. “A double date, only that they’re the only ones actually going on a date. Maybe we can go swimming, does Emerald like to go swimming?”

“Always depends on who she’s going with. You’re eager to set Blake up with her, aren’t you?”

“I just want her to be happy. Emerald seems nice, and if they just need a little push into the right direction then I won’t say no. If they end not liking each other that much no harm is done.”

“Sounds good to me. She has Thursday off.”

“So we have a date?”

He smirked. “Seems like we do.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Are you serious?”

“I think you’re a bit ungrateful.” Mercury crossed his arms behind his head. “You wouldn’t have asked her out in ages.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.” She sat down on her bed and leaned against the headboard, crossing her legs. “What if Blake doesn’t even want this date?”

“So you just admitted that you do want to go out with her.”

She threw a pillow at him, he caught it and laughed. “Stop laughing. I didn’t say that. But if Blake doesn’t this will be very, very awkward.”

“Yang knows her. She wouldn’t have agreed on this if she didn’t.”

“I don’t even know what to wear.”

“Swimwear.”

“This was a terrible idea. I can’t even put anything flattering on.”

“You look hot in a bikini.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

She groaned. “I just… what if she doesn’t like me?”

“Then she’s a bitch.”

When he looked at her Emerald didn’t even look mad. She gave him a soft smile. “I’ll never let you hear the end of it if this goes wrong. You know that, right?”

“You never let me hear the end of anything. I’m used to it by now.”

 

 

* * *

 

Yang loved the summer. She loved the heat, the smell of asphalt and new-mown grass, summer rain on her skin and the colours of the sunset. But swimming was by far her favourite thing. She loved how cold the water of the lake felt at first before she got used to it, how she was shivering when she got out of the water, feeling the sun slowly dry her skin.

“Not swimming today?” Yang sat down next to Mercury on her towel. He was still fully dressed, lying on his back, eyes closed. He even refused to lie in the sun, hiding in the shadow of a large tree.

“Nah. Lakes are kinda gross.”

“But at least they are having fun.” She looked at Blake and Emerald, both swimming far out. They had talked a bit since they had arrived, but this was the first time they were alone with each other. “Emerald is nice.”

“She’s nice to Blake because she’s into her.”

“And usually she isn’t?”

“In her own way. If she calls you an asshole that means she loves you.”

“I wonder how that will go.”

“She’s at least trying not to screw this up.”  

Yang leaned back and closed her eyes. She would have preferred to be in the sun, but she also didn’t want to be completely on her own. Mercury was the only company she would get today, so she might as well make the most of it. “Are you a cat or a dog person?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

She shrugged. “Just trying to start a conversation about something else but those two useless lesbians out there.”

“Neither. Cats are assholes and don’t love you, so if the feeling is mutual, why keep them around? But dogs are so stupid. You don’t feed them for weeks and they will still love you and act like you’re the best person in the whole wide world. Kinda pathetic. Keeping one around would only annoy me.”

“Wow, that got dark real quick.” Yang looked at him. “Are there any happy topics you can talk about without being a complete dick?”

“The weather is nice today.” He smirked and shrugged. “Actually I hate the weather.”

“Is there anything you like?”

“Yes. Comics.”

“My sister reads comics.” She crossed her arms behind her head and closed her eyes again. “Feels weird to spend the summer without her.”

“Why are you doing it then?”

“Raven is my mum, but not hers. I think she’d just feel awkward here. Blake is the only person apart from me she really knows. She’s having a good time though, camping with our dad. It’s just for a couple of weeks after all.”

“Are you here to bond with your mother or to earn money because she’s giving you a job?”

“Both I guess.” She looked at him, but he was staring out at the lake again. “I mean I could have found a job anywhere. It’s complicated. What about your parents?” She wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable talking about Raven with him.

“Dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t. I’m not.” He sat up. “I need something to drink, you want anything?”

“Yeah. Just anything sweet and cold, I’m not picky.”

He nodded and got up. Yang followed him with her gaze and groaned. She shouldn’t have asked for his parents. Now she had definitely screwed it up. She wasn’t even sure what, after all she didn’t want anything from him, but her throat still clenched when he walked off. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the good weather, even without lying in the sun. But lying down in the sun now would have been impolite and she wasn’t even sure why she cared.

Something cold touched her cheek and she gasped, sitting up. She heard Mercury laugh next to her, sitting down and giving her a bottle of coke. “You’re too easy to annoy.”

“You’re too easy to hate.” She took the bottle and couldn’t help but to smirk.

“I’m not the one breaking other people’s noses at parties.”

“I’m not the one being overdresses at the beach.”

“It’s a lake, that barely counts as a beach.” His smirk was wide and infuriating. “If I make a comment about your bikini now, will that get me fired?”

“Not if you compliment it.”

“Then I’ll think about it.” He leaned against the tree and opened his bottle of coke.

“Jerk.” She laughed.

 

* * *

 

“He likes her.” Emerald said it as if it was something to be seriously worried about. Blake’s hair was still wet and Yang and Mercury were walking ahead of them, far enough away to give them space to talk. They weren’t subtle about wanting them to get together.

“Not sure if they would be a good match. She seems like she wants to scratch his eyes out most of the time.”

“If you don’t feel that way about Merc most of the time there is something wrong with you.” Emerald’s hand brushed Blake’s, briefly enough to be nothing but a coincidence. “She’s almost too nice for him.”

“I feel bad for making them stick around all day long. They didn’t have to do that.”

“Would you rather have been alone?”

Blake felt her cheeks grow hot. “I mean I don’t mind them being around, but I feel like they only did it because they felt like they had to.”

“Do you want to grab a coffee on the way home? I doubt Merc wants to stick around, he hates coffee shops, but of course we can ask Yang if you want.”

“I think she’ll be glad to get home early.” Blake looked down and smiled. When she looked up again Yang had turned around. She was giving her a thumbs up and Blake blushed. She hoped Emerald hadn’t noticed. “We should go that way.”

“Do you want to say Yang goodbye?”

“No, it’s fine. She finally seems to get along with him, I don’t want to disturb the peace.” They took a smaller street, small houses on each sides and not a single person in sight. Their hands found each other and all of a sudden it felt like the most natural thing in the word.

“I always liked sunrises more than sunsets,” Emerald said. “I never liked the dark. Merc and I share a room at the moment and he’s so annoyed because I make him sleep with the desk lamp on. It’s embarrassing, but I can’t sleep when it’s completely dark. My third foster mum was the first who let me sleep with the door open and the lights in the hallway on. I never got rid of that habit.”

Blake looked up, but Emerald was just staring at the street in front of her. Emerald had never mentioned her family before, and she wasn’t sure if it was okay to ask. “What happened to your parents?” she asked eventually. “You don’t have to answer, just… ignore it if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.” She looked down for a moment, but kept holding Blake’s hand. “I never knew my father. My mum just… didn’t give a shit. About anything. One night I woke up and was home alone. I left the apartment to search her, someone found me and that’s when they put me into foster care. Not that the first two foster homes were any better. But I don’t want your pity or anything. My third foster mum was nice, I met Mercury there, and now I have a scholarship and good grades. I shouldn’t complain.”  

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry. If you want to talk about it you always can.”

“Thank you.” Emerald still didn’t look at her.

“The colours are beautiful though.”

She looked up. “Huh?”

“The sunset.”

They both stopped. Emerald’s hand was warm and gentle. Later Blake wouldn’t remember when they moved closer, or who had moved first, but she would remember the soft red of the sky, the smell of grass and the way her heart was pounding warm and fast in her chest when Emerald kissed her.

“You look pretty in this light”, Emerald said. “Maybe sunsets aren’t that bad after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while... I have absolutely no idea why it took me this long to write this chapter, but there you go! I still love this story and even though I am still super busy at the moment I am not abandoning it. It will be very interesting later on, the Mature rating is for a reason.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s not my fault the air con still doesn’t work.” Yang leaned against one of the cars, crossing her arms in front of her chest. It was supposed to look like nothing of this was getting to her, but she just felt trapped. “I called them today and Torchwick said the replacement parts will arrive this week and that he’ll let me know as soon as they did. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Something else than sitting in the office and staring out of the window all day long.” Vernal looked more threatening than a woman in nothing but an overall and a bra should. Her short hair was sticking to her forehead. “But yeah, just put the blame on Torchwick and pretend you’re not responsible.”

“I’m not the only one working here.”

“Yeah, but you’re handling the office. If you weren’t Raven’s spoiled brat she would have fired you by now. She probably regrets hiring you, I have no idea why she doesn’t just tell you the truth already and hires someone who knows what they’re doing.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t wanna hear the truth? Well, someone has to tell you. No one likes you here, Yang, and your mother is the only one who still hopes you’ll be of some use someday. Who hires a secretary who can’t even get a stupid air con fixed?”

“You’re just jealous because I’m not stuck in this stupid shop in this stupid town for the rest of my life. I don’t have to get up my boss’ ass for attention because I actually have friends, unlike you.”

“Stop it. Both of you.”

They turned around. Raven was standing in the door and Yang could feel her stomach drop. She had no idea how long she had been there, how long she had been listening. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

“She –“ Vernal started, but Raven interrupted her.

“Yang, see me in the office. Everyone else has work to do, or did we suddenly run out of business?”

She could feel everyone’s eyes on her when she followed Raven. The cold office air hit her like a wall and made her shiver. “It was nothing,” Yang said. “Not a big deal.”

“I can’t have you pick fights with my mechanics.” Raven sat down behind her desk. “Why hasn’t the air con been fixed yet anyway?”

“I’m not picking fights, it was her fault.”

“I don’t care. Just stop it.”

“So you’re just picking her side? You’ll just let her say all those things about me?”

“Do you expect me to pick your side just because you’re my daughter?”

Yang crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against her desk. “It wouldn’t hurt if you did that only once”, she mumbled, staring down at her feet.

“This is business. Don’t expect a special treatment here.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t.” Yang grabbed her bag and reached for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Giving you a reason to fire me.” She slammed the door shut behind her. She heard Raven yell something, but she couldn’t understand it.

She managed to stay angry until she walked down the street Blake lived in. She would have preferred anger over the numbness of knowing that she might have screwed up her relationship with her mother for good, that she had to eventually come home and face her. _Home_. Raven’s, but probably not hers.

 

* * *

 

The party had been Blake’s idea. Or Emerald’s, Yang wasn’t really sure. She had turned her phone off and had been sitting in Blake’s room all day long, pretending the fight with her mum didn’t get to her and that she didn’t have to face her eventually. Now she felt guilty for being too caught up in her own problems to really listen to what Blake had told her earlier today. They were standing next to the front door, waiting for Emerald and Mercury.

“So where is your new girlfriend?” Yang asked.

Blake looked away. “We didn’t have that talk yet.”

“You’ve been sending each other cheesy texts all day long. Know what, if she kisses you when she arrives she totally is your girlfriend.” Yang sipped on her drink. She was wearing a top she had borrowed from Blake, and the drink in her hand was her second already. Tonight she wanted to have fun, to forget about her mum, and to finally manage to be happy about Blake finding love.

“She said she’d be here in a minute.”

They both stared at the street in front of them. The party was slowly dissolving form the house into the garden and onto the street in front of the house. “Over there,” Yang said. “I think it’s them.”

Emerald was wearing shorts, boots and a crop top that probably made everything else irrelevant to Blake right now if she was at least a bit into her. Emerald smiled softly. She walked up the stairs to the porch and she did kiss Blake. Yang smirked and turned away.

“Am I supposed to kiss you too?” Mercury had buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He was wearing a bleached out Nirvana shirt, his hair messy as if he had just gotten out of bed.

“Don’t you dare.” She sipped on her drink. Emerald and Blake were still busy letting their tongues say hello, so she was probably stuck with him for the rest of the night. Well, she wouldn’t let him keep her from having fun.

“We’ll go get some drinks,” Blake said. “Do you want anything?”

“No, we’ll help ourselves. Go inside and have some fun, we’ll find you.” Yang threw her arm around Mercury’s shoulder. “We’re gonna hit the dancefloor.”

“Don’t go easy on him.” Emerald smirked and wrapped her arm around Blake. Yang smiled at Blake to let her know it was alright before they went inside.

“I don’t dance,” Mercury said, loosely wrapping his arm around her waist.

“You mean you didn’t dance before.” She downed the rest of her drink and left her glass on the window shelf. He smirked, and unfortunately it did pleasant things to his face. He was undeniably handsome, but in this moment he almost looked like someone she wouldn’t hate.

 

* * *

 

“You’re not into this, are you?”

“It really doesn’t bother me at all.” Blake sipped on her drink. Emerald had wrapped her arms around her and she would have lied if she had said that the warmth it awoke inside of her didn’t scare her.

“Not bothering you is not the same thing as liking it.”

“I never liked crowds. But it’s not that bad with you around.”

Emerald kissed her cheek and Blake blushed. “We can leave if you want.”

“No, I don’t want to leave Yang alone. She didn’t have a good day.”

“Well, she seems to have fun right now.” Emerald pointed at the living room. Blake could spot Yang and Mercury in the middle of the dancing crowd. She was way more enthusiastic about the dancing and he more enthusiastic to have his hands on her hips. “He really wants her”, Emerald said. “Naked, in his bed. On the living room floor if she lets him.”

“Well, as long as she’s having fun.”

“Do you wanna go outside for a moment?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

It was weird how naturally all of this came to her with Emerald. Running her hand up and down her spine, kissing her neck and getting lost in the smell of her hair and the feeling of soft fingertips caressing her skin. It didn’t feel like the first time she was doing this and it wasn’t, but for the first time it was without the awkwardness, the fear of doing something wrong, and the feeling of being thrown into something she had no control over.

It was warm outside, but they still cuddled up to each other on the small bench as if it was freezing cold. Blake leaned her head against Emerald’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “So are we… dating now?”

“Are you asking or… I don’t know, I haven’t really done this in a while. I don’t want to pressure you into anything, but if you want this… we could.”

“I want this.” It came almost immediately, without having to think about it. Without doubts. “I do want to date you.”

“Okay. Then we are.” Emerald smiled, almost shyly, and her kiss was soft and gentle.

Blake didn’t want to pull away when her phone buzzed, but she did it anyway. “Sorry”, she mumbled. “If it’s Yang I don’t wanna ignore it.”

“Don’t worry.” Emerald picked up their glasses and got up. “I’ll get us more drinks. Tell me if I have to kick Mercury’s ass.”

“I will.” Blake smiled and couldn’t help but to stare at Emerald as she went back inside.

She pulled her phone out. The thing that confused her most was that the message wasn’t from Yang but an unknown number. She opened the message.

 

_I’m here, my love._

 

It felt like the world around her was freezing. All of a sudden and she could neither breathe nor move. She stared at her phone until the screen went dark. She pressed the button and the message popped up again, reminding her it was real. Then another message popped up.

 

_Who’s that blonde you’re always hanging out with?_

 

She almost ran into Emerald on the way inside, beer swashed out of the glass and left dark stains on the wooden floor of the porch. “Is everything alright?” Emerald asked.

“I need to go.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” Emerald put the glasses on the floor, wiping her hands on her shorts. “Did anything happen?”

“I need to find Yang.” Her hands were shaking. “I need to get her out, she’s in danger.”

 

* * *

 

She felt more sober in the hallway. They were both out of breath, his hands were still on her hips and she didn’t bother to do anything about it. She leaned her head against his chest instead of the wall, closing her eyes and waiting for the world around her to calm down. “I kinda lost my job today”, she said.

“That fight with Vernal made you quit?”

“It wasn’t even about her.” She tried to ignore how good his shirt smelled, and that he had wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t even know why I bother trying to get a better relationship with my mum. She never gave a shit about me. You know, everything was always more important than me, maybe I just hoped I’d be more important for once. I’m so stupid.”

“I didn’t expect you to be a mopey drunk.”

“Usually I’m a very fun drunk to be around.” She looked up. “Do you think I should just leave and never talk to her again?”

“Who would I talk to awkwardly on double dates while Em and Blake make out?”

“What, are you saying you’d actually miss me?” She smirked.

“No, that’s not what I said.”

“It is.” She brushed some strands of hair out of his face. His hair was surprisingly soft. “You know, I don’t hate you all the time. Sometimes I almost like you.”

“I knew you’d want me at some point.”

She ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head before she pulled him down and kissed him. He was surprisingly gentle when he kissed her back. “You’re more likable when you shut up”, she whispered.

“You’re hot when you tell me you hate me.”

“I’ll take that.”

It wasn’t what she had imagined this night to be like. Making out with Mercury in the hallway, her heart racing and his hands being everywhere at once. He was a distraction, nothing more, but damn was he good at that.

Her phone buzzed. She hesitated before she pulled away from him. “Don’t answer it”, he mumbled, pulling her a bit closer.

“What if it’s Blake crying somewhere because Emerald broke up with her?” She pulled her phone out. He kissed her temple while she turned on the screen. Three new messages from Blake.

 

_where are you???_

_meet me outside_

_please, it’s urgent_

 

“Shit, I need to go.” She leaned up to peck his lips.

“Something wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I need to see what’s up.” She pulled away from him and then turned back around. This time he pulled her closer, kissing her fiercely. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said when she finally pulled away, out of breath. “I’m not done with you.”

The night seemed to glow. She couldn’t see Blake, so she stepped out on the street, the dim light of the streetlights all of a sudden golden and incredibly beautiful. It was a kind of euphoria she hadn’t felt in a while, and right now she didn’t allow herself to think about it any further.

“Yang!”

She turned around. “Blake?”

The bright flashlights of the car were the last thing she saw before everything turned upside down and her whole world became asphalt and pain. Then darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

She heard voices without understanding what they were saying. People touching her. It was far away, as if she was lying in a bathtub, the water dragging her far far down, away from everything else and muffling the noises.

She tried to open her eyes, but the lights were too bright. Had she just moved her hand? Had she said something? She tried to scream, but she wasn’t sure if it was all in her head.

“Shh. It’s alright.”

And darkness had her back.

 

* * *

 

The dim light of the hospital room made it hard to see anything. She blinked. Her eyelids felt heavy.

It took a moment before she saw Raven. It felt unreal, like everything else, to see her sleep in an armchair next to her bed. “Mum?” Her throat felt dry and her voice sounded raspy. She thought she hadn’t heard her, but then Raven moved, sitting up.

“Yang.” She got up. “You’re awake.”

Keeping her eyes open got harder with every time she blinked. She tried to move, but everything felt heavy, numb. “I can’t feel my legs,” she whispered.

“Your legs are fine.” Raven lied down next to her and when she wrapped her arms around her Yang couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. “You’re just on heavy painkillers. Try to sleep now. It’s three in the morning.”

She could smell her perfume. It was such a weird thing to notice. It was such a weird thing to be here, in her arms for the first time she remembered. “I’ve been gone for hours.”

“You’ve been gone for three days.” Raven kissed her forehead, soft fingers stroking strands of hair out of her face. It felt surreal, but right now Yang didn’t want her to leave. “Try to sleep.”

And darkness had her back.

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pull the blinds up?” Taiyang turned around to look at her. “It’s quite dark in here.”

“Yes. In the afternoon the sun always annoys me and heats the room up.” Yang looked back down at the magazine in her lap. Raven had bought her a bunch, and none of them really interested her. The hospital room was slowly becoming a complete mess full of presents that didn’t interest her and flowers from people who didn’t care enough to pass her a visit.

“Ruby called. She said she’s not sure if she’s going to take the flight.”

“I told her I’d be mad if she’d let me ruin this trip for her. She’s been saving up for it all year long.”

He sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Is there anything else you need?”

“My right arm?” For a moment he looked shocked. “It was a joke, dad.”

“Glad you didn’t lose your humour as well.” He stepped closer to hug her goodbye. “I can come back in the afternoon if you want.”

“You don’t have to. They wanted to run some more tests and then I might just nap.”

“Alright, then I’ll see you tomorrow. Call me and I’ll be right here.”

“I know.”

Days in the hospital were an endless loop of telling her parents she was fine, zapping through the TV programme, calculating how many untouched food trays the nurses could take back without anyone getting worried, and trying to stop hoping it would be Blake every time someone knocked on the door. The last part was the hardest.

She was watching a soap opera when it knocked again. After almost two weeks in the hospital she knew more about the plot than she probably should have. It wasn’t a nurse because they rarely waited for her to ask her inside. She bit her lip and sat up. “Yeah?”

It was Vernal. For a moment Yang was too surprised to be disappointed. “I hate hospitals,” Vernal said when she got in, closing the door behind her. “How are you?”

“A quarter of the woman I used to be.” She shrugged at Vernal’s disgusted glare. “It’s my arm, if anyone’s allowed to make jokes about it…”

“Yeah, but that one was just bad.” She sat down in the armchair next to her bed and opened her backpack. “Did you have lunch yet?”

“It’s over there.” She pointed at the tray, still untouched on the desk. “You get fifty points if you can tell me what that’s supposed to be.”

“Good.” Vernal pulled something out of the backpack. Yang raised her eyebrows when she saw the while paper box.

“Are those drugs?” she asked.

“Better.” She opened the box, got up and gave Yang the fork from the tray. “I smuggled it inside, those nurses can be quite scary. Don’t tell your mum it was me, she’d be mad I didn’t bring you anything healthier.”

“You know, tacos are already hard to eat with two hands.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“That’s what the fork is for. Good luck.” Vernal took her backpack. “I need to go, my lunch break is almost over.”

“Thank you,” Yang said when Vernal opened the door. She looked at her and shrugged before she left. Yang turned the volume back up and started to eat.

 

* * *

 

It was afternoon when he knocked. He didn’t wait for her to say something and Yang sat up, abruptly woken up from her nap. Mercury smirked and pushed the door open whit his shoulder. The balloon was the last thing that made it into the room before he closed the door again. “The hell is that?” she asked.

“Was the happiest thing they had in the shop.” The balloon was pink, with happy white letters saying _It’s a girl_. “If you rather want one of those teddies with a plastered arm just say something.”

“That’s seriously the worst gift I’ve ever gotten.” She leaned back. All of a sudden she wished she was wearing something else but an old tank top and pyjama shorts with dogs on them. Raven had washed and braided her hair this morning, so at least it could have been worse.

“Those flowers are pretty ugly.” He threw the rest of the stuff in his hands on the bed. Sweets and snacks, the unhealthy kind Raven didn’t buy her. “Why is it so dark in here?” He crossed the room and pulled the blinds up.

“Because in the afternoon the sun is annoying the hell out of me.”

“I thought you liked the sun.” He sat down on the bed next to her and she reluctantly moved to make space. “But seriously, those flowers are super ugly.”

“They’re from Blake’s parents.” She looked away. “What are you even doing here?”

“Bringing you snacks. Hospital food absolutely sucks. Vernal told me your room number today, didn’t want to ask your mum. Heard you lost your arm.”

“Are you gonna tell me you’re sorry and that soon enough life will be normal again? Because I’ve heard enough of it.”

“Nah.” He reached down and pulled up his jeans. Yang stared at the metal beneath where his leg should have been. “It doesn’t help, I know that. But I know how terrible hospital food can be.”

“Was I supposed to find out when I have sex with you? Kind of a way to ruin the mood, you know.”

He grabbed a bag of chocolate drops and opened it. “You wanted to have sex with me?”

“I might have thought about it, but that doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“I mean how much time do we have until the nurses come check on you again? If we hurry we could make it.”

“Shut up.” She laughed, for the first time ever since the accident, and she turned away when the tears came. It was the worst possible time to cry, and in her throat laughter turned into ugly sobs. “Fuck,” she mumbled.

“Eat some chocolate, I got you the good one.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Chocolate is not gonna make me feel better.”

“I know.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, running his hand through her hair. “How long until they’ll let you go?”

“A couple of days probably. But I don’t know what to do then.” It felt easier to cry in front of him, to talk to him about it. Maybe because he made it so much harder for her to pretend everything was okay. “Blake still doesn’t talk to me. She’s the only person I really want around right now, I keep sending everyone else away, but she doesn’t even answer her phone.”

“I’m not gonna tell you it’ll be alright.” She felt his breath on her cheek when he turned his head to look at her. “But she’ll most likely get around and call you back.”

“Everyone says that. But why didn’t she even come to see if I was alright?”

“She was here.”

“How do you know?”

“We were all here the night it happened. I got your blood all over my shirt. She sat in the waiting area all night long and refused to let Emerald talk to her or touch her. When we knew you wouldn’t die your mum sent us away.”

“You were here too?”

“I was kinda hoping I’d still get laid if your injuries turned out not to be that bad.”

“You’re an awful liar.”

His kiss was brief and soft. He wiped some tears from her cheeks. “You’re hotter when you’re not crying.”

“You’re less of a douche when you’re not talking.”

Someone knocked on the door and opened it immediately afterwards. It was the young nurse, the one she liked most because she didn’t try to make her eat the horrible pudding they always got for dessert here but just snatched it for herself. “Visiting hours ended ten minutes ago,” she said. “Your boyfriend can come back tomorrow.” She looked at the balloon and then seemed to decide she’d rather not ask any questions. “I’ll come back in five minutes for another blood sample, then he really needs to be gone.” She closed the door behind her again.

“I could get one that says _It’s a boy_ tomorrow.” He got up. He was the first person she didn’t want to leave.

“You realise I have to explain this to my dad, right?”

He leaned down to kiss her. “Maybe that’s why I’m doing this.”

She caught herself smiling when he left. The sun was shining into the room and for the first time it didn’t bother her. She took the bag with chocolate drops and ate some before she took her phone and dialled his number.

“Aren’t phones forbidden in the hospital or something?” he said when he answered the call.

“Didn’t expect you to be a white chocolate person.” She held the phone between her chin and the shoulder to take another hand full of chocolate drops and almost dropped it.

“Who even likes dark chocolate? It’s nothing but bitter disappointment. All you want is sweetness melting in your mouth, and white chocolate is pure soft sweetness.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Where’s that balloon from?” Raven asked while putting seeds and fresh raspberries into the porridge she made Jaune prepare for her during his working hours every morning.

“Just a joke,” Yang said. It was weird that she made such a big fuzz about her, doing all the things she had expected a mum to do, doing it now while she just wanted him and Taiyang to leave.

“Your doctor said if your blood test doesn’t show anything that speaks against it you can leave tomorrow.” Taiyang took one of the dark chocolate covered cookies Mercury had gotten her yesterday even though he still claimed they were disgusting. “I’ll drive you home and the local doctor will do all further check-ups.”

“I think I want to stay here.” She looked down at her hands. The silence was uncomfortable. “You know, I’d just keep you from going to work and Raven already said she could take the time off. Also Blake is here, and I don’t want to drive three hours every time the police has questions.”

“Well, of course you want to be close to Blake. Has she bought you all those sweets?”

Raven gave Yang the bowl with the porridge. “She can stay at my place as long as she wants. I can work from home most of the time.”

“Yang, you might have sent Ruby away, but I’m not going to leave you alone.”

“I still have a spare guest room,” Raven said.

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll gladly take it.”

If Raven was surprised she covered it up well. “I’ll show you where the bedsheets are.”

“You don’t have to look after me all the time.” Yang dug her spoon into the porridge. “I’ll be fine being on my own from time to time.”

“The doctor said you shouldn’t be completely on your own too,” Taiyang said. “We’ll try not to get on your nerves too much. We’ll give you enough privacy.”

Yang nodded and ate a spoon of Jaune’s porridge so she didn’t have to answer. The issue wasn’t that she wanted privacy, the issue was that all she wanted to do was to sit in her room and do nothing, and they wouldn’t let her.

 

* * *

 

“I’m not hungry, mum!” Blake rolled around on her bed, away from the door. It knocked again. She sat up. “Come in.”

Emerald stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Blake clenched her hand around the blanket. “Your mum let me in,” Emerald said. She awkwardly stood next to the door for a moment before she sat down on her desk chair. “I tried to call you.”

She wanted to come up with an excuse, but she didn’t know what to say. Maybe there was none. Maybe she should have sent her away, but she couldn’t. She looked down. “I didn’t know what to say.”

“I’ve been dead worried, Blake. Merc said you don’t even talk to Yang. What’s wrong?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“But you should. It doesn’t have to be me, but you need to talk to someone. And you should talk to Yang.”

“She’s better off without me. You too.”

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear any of that bullshit.”

“She lost her arm and it’s my fault.” Blake looked away. She wanted to get up, but at least her bed was something to hold on to. “Adam did this. Because of me. Because I of him. I’m only bringing harm to the –“

“Blake, that’s not true.” Her voice was calm, but Blake only felt herself getting louder and louder.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve been there.”

She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t even look at her. She just wanted to stop feeling like everything was breaking down on her. “It’s my fault, and she should blame me.”

She heard Emerald getting up and sitting down next to her. Her fingertips ghosted over the back of her hand. “He made you believe that everything is your fault, but it’s not. It’s his fault and no one else’s.”

“I ignored your calls for two weeks, what do you even still want from me?”

“When I finally realised how bad my ex was for me I didn’t talk to Merc for a whole month. He kept telling me to break up with her, I always ignored him, and when I finally realised he had been right all along I felt bad for every time I told him to fuck off while he only wanted to help me. But he didn’t stop wanting to help me after I had finally left her.”

“What if he hurts you too?”

“Oh, let him try. I didn’t go through the foster system to let someone hurt me who needs a car to take down Yang Xiao Long.” Emerald wrapped her arms around her from behind, her chin resting on her shoulder. “I want to help you, and I’m here if you need me.”

Blake leaned against her and closed her eyes. “It feels wrong to ask you to stay.”  

“Do you still want me to stay?”

“Yes.”

Emerald softly kissed her neck. “I’ll stay then.”

 

* * *

 

“Yang, wake up.”

“Shut up.” She pulled the blanket over her head. “I’ll throw you out.”

“Someone is knocking on the door, if you don’t get up now your dad will throw me out.”

She sat up. The afternoon sun was shining into the room and Mercury had still wrapped his arms around her hip. She got up and pulled the blanket over him before she opened the door just enough to see Raven on the other side. “Are you hungry?” Raven asked.

“No, not right now. I just woke up from a nap.”

“Are you sure? Tai made –“

Yang flinched at the rumbling behind her. “Shit!” he yelled.

Raven raised her eyebrows. “Mercury?”

“No, it’s not him, just…”

“Some random guy? How did you even smuggle him inside?”

“She made me climb through the window,” Mercury said behind her. “Please don’t fire me.”

“I’ll bring you something to eat. Don’t tell your dad, I don’t want to have that conversation today. And don’t get pregnant.”

Yang closed the door when Raven left, leaned her head against it and groaned. “You really fell out of the bed again.”

“You always take up way too much space.”

She turned around. He was sitting on her bed. His hair was messier than usual. She liked it like that. “I think I might just die now.”

“Hey, I have to work with her now while she thinks I’m screwing her daughter.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re not trying.” She let herself drop on the bed next to him. “It’s not even like I don’t want to have sex with you, but I just…” It was hard to put into words. But without her arm she felt different, and horribly self-conscious.

“Hey, I can still hit on Vernal or something.” He ran his hands through her hair, too gentle to be mad at him. He had this habit to say something she should have been really mad about and doing something that proved he meant the complete opposite, but for some reason couldn’t say it. Maybe it was some sort of defence mechanism, but she felt like she more time she spent with him the more she understood what he really meant.

She moved closer and buried her face in his chest, just so he would wrap his arms around her. “I mean maybe this will make her shut up. She’s always complaining about me only being in my room and not doing anything else, but if I say it’s because of you she might stop being so worried.”

He kissed her forehead. It was a kind of gentleness she had never expected from him. Maybe he did only do it to get into her pants after all, but right now she couldn’t bring herself to care as long as he kept climbing into her room each afternoon to bring her junk food and fight with her about who the best Avenger was. He treated her like she was normal without pretending nothing had happened, and she knew it was probably stupid, but she would cling to that as long as she could.


End file.
